First we started with the News Item: a kid in England is making 2,000 pounds (approx. $4,000) every second on Vine. His Vine videos are so popular that brands are paying him that much to promote their brands on his six-second Vine videos. Crazy.

We then spoke with Mike Brooks who discussed in some detail about the website rescue operations he has had to perform because Google has hurt the sites rankings in a seemingly arbitrary way. Indeed about half of his current clients are on the rebound from other SEO companies who have harmed their SEO rankings even if the other company wasn’t really doing anything shady. In fact, Mike said that oftentimes these other companies are doing a good job, but Google’s changes give them a bad reputation. Thus, although he like Google a lot, he also hates them, because you can’t really rely on anything they do or say. One minute you could be on their good side and the next your search rankings fall.

Sometimes, if the SEO damage is substantial, you have to ask “forgiveness” from Google. Mike mentioned how this is done. Even then it may take a long time – months – until they restore your website to good standing and stop removing your website from people search results.

How to know when a website is being harmed by Google’s changes? Mike said the only way to tell is to consistently monitor your SEO rankings in their Analytics tool. Chris remarked that many companies probably don’t check their search rankings regularly, but they could probably tell if their Internet sales suddenly start slipping.

David asked if Google might be a target for antitrust violations but Mike and Ralph Rivera both agreed that the political environment would not allow for such things to take place.

We also discussed the role social media plays in SEO as well as the ability to be found online.

Finally we came to our Tip of the Week: to borrow an earlier tip from friend-of-the-show Dino Dogan, your true social media metrics should not be about the number of likes, followers and connections you amass, but by the number you give instead. The way to gain value on social media is to give first and then receive later.

Our guest Art Jones, Strategic Advisor & Creative Director at The ART of Marketing, has expertise in 3 critical areas – marketing, sales and technology! And in addition to admiring his innate knowledge of HOW technology continually changes the business landscape, it’s refreshing to hear that he gives the utmost importance to the idea that People Really Matter.

We discussed Inbound Marketing, Context along with Content, Mobile Media, a handful of astounding new Mobile Medical capabilities.

And check out some of Art’s lessons learned during his career:

Be authentic

Hire the best

Build strong teams

Listen to the marketplace

Create corporate culture where people are free to innovate, create and make magic for clients

Honor the Power of Words for they can change the fortunes of people and businesses

Be resilient, the pace of the always on and connected world will continue to quicken

Last and perhaps most important always remember, whatever we do “People Really Matter.”

On this week’s Social Media Unscrambled, the show hosts got a visit from a “cousin;” another podcaster in the world of social media. “Beyond the To-Do List” host Erik J. Fisher (@erikjfisher), a source of social media and entrepreneurial knowledge, was welcomed onto the show with open arms by Chris Curran of Fractal Recording and David Deutsch of Synergi Social. (once Chris figured out that pesky Skype issue.. 😉

You know you’ve made it on the internet when your podcast is listed in the top 20-50 in its category in iTunes. Erik’s show focuses on personal productivity perspective, which, in short, is understanding what a person can do to be productive and effective in their own way. In his entertaining half hour with Chris and Dave on #smUnscrambled, Erik shared some of his social media knowledge, what platforms he uses, how he defines productivity, and one of his most compelling interview guests . Thankfully Erik also shared what his typical social media day and week are like. And did you know he’s the social media correspondent for The Podcast Answer Man 😉

The show started out lively and friendly as usual, as the hosts discussed a missing red panda (and the zoo’s use of social media to find it!) before introducing their guest. Erik used some of his time as well as examples to demonstrate that without a proper idea and goal for one’s social media activities, it can be a huge waste of time. For a small business owner, social media can get in the way of clients and sales, instead of acting as a way to drive revenue.

The question to ask yourself: Is your social media a distraction for you, or a driving force? Productivity, to Erik, is doing the right things at the right time, not only doing many things in a timely manner. As he stated, what’s the point of being productive if you’re not doing the right things – the things that actually help your business? Social media, as the hosts realized, can either be a time suck, or it can do miraculous things such as clinch a deal or find a red panda – just as long as objectives and timing are planned to maximize usefulness.Erik mentioned his most influential podcast guest- the author of Getting Things Done, David Allen. He emphasized that in order to be successful, one must identify and utilize a trusted system, which usually requires planning, practice and tweaking. A system for social media interaction is unique to everyone, definitely not one-size-fits-all. The most important thing to do is to be you.

The show went on to discuss the new usage of the hashtag on Facebook, and what exactly a hashtag is. A hashtag, according to Erik and David, adds meta-data and media to a post, can make a point, and makes it easy to find stories, articles, ads, and people. The hashtag, contrary to common belief, is not owned by twitter, and is now being used all over the internet.

The most unique part of SMU is the host’s ability to interact with their listeners. As the talk about the hashtag occurred, two listeners posted comments, one about helpful tips on how to use hashtags, and the other to emphasize the point that hashtags make it easier to connect on Facebook without ads. And EdgeRank got a mention too; EdgeRank is a kind of Search Engine Optimization within Facebook itself, which determines how many people actually see your posts.

The soundest piece of advice that was given on the show was to just be yourself. Using your time management, unique skills, and resources is the best way to get attention and create business. Businesses can learn a lot from other people, as David Deutsch told the story of a listener who found a typo on his SynergiSocial.com website, and instead of becoming defensive, etc, David cultivated a beneficial relationship with this person. (FYI- This listener can be found at www.karmabridge.com providing acupuncture and herbals….and fyi David DID fix the typo 😉 Using skills and personality allows a businessperson to make friends with their clients efficiently and naturally.

Erik J. Fisher made a plethora of good points on the show. Remember to figure out what your business needs, and do it. Oh, and have you been jotting all of this advice down? I hear to-do lists are helpful…